


fortune telling, reincarnation, love, and other (somewhat dubious) forms of science.

by avatraang



Series: to transcend lifetimes. [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Swearing, sokka and toph are idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:02:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25169650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avatraang/pseuds/avatraang
Summary: “Hey,” Sokka’s voice is soft. “Come with me. I’ve missed you.”Distantly, Toph supposes that even the earth moves unsteadily at times; after all, isn’t that how earthquakes are caused?[Tokka, as foretold by Aunt Wu. Oneshot. Minor AU from LOK.]
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Sokka
Series: to transcend lifetimes. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/964344
Comments: 33
Kudos: 196





	fortune telling, reincarnation, love, and other (somewhat dubious) forms of science.

**Author's Note:**

> lmao i've been gone foreverrrrr. but after reading some really beautiful tokka fics, i decided to finally make time and try my hand at an idea i've had floating around in my head for literal YEARS. it took a lot of tries but i think i finally did it some semblance of justice. i hope you all enjoy it. to interact with me more, go follow my new tumblr, @avatraang. i made it specifically to interact with everyone! <3
> 
> there's a lot of swearing in this story, because you can't tell me Toph wouldn't swear. it takes place over a number of decades. it touches briefly on the comics and on LOK, but not so heavily that you have to have read them or seen the series to understand what's happening. This is a slightly Alternate Universe to that of the comics and of the LOK series. It is a part of my "To Transcend Lifetimes" series, but is not heavily related to the other works in this series.  
> Oh, and also: I know NOTHING about fortune telling. I apologize in advance if I fucked it up royally.
> 
> other than that, i hope you find this read worth your time.  
> without further ado, here's my work. :)

_"You see, for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble.  
_ _The moment you take a step, you do so on an act of faith because you don't really know that the floor's not going to give under your feet.  
_ _The moment you take a journey, what an act of faith.  
The moment that you enter into any kind of human undertaking in a relationship, what an act of faith."  
_ **-alan watts, _falling into love._** _  
_

* * *

Toph doesn’t really bat an eye when she gets a letter from a small Earth village in the middle of bumbafuck. Her secretary reads it to her and she shrugs it off; it gets thrown on her dining room table most unceremoniously. She spends the rest of the week doing what she usually does: focusing on her school and being a little too bored. To be grounded is in her nature, but Toph also has a strange tendency to get restless. Her body starts to twitch and her spirit grows bored. Nothing good has ever come from a bored Toph.

It’s a very _un-_ Earthbender like personality trait; in fact, Zuko once dumbly commented on how it was almost an Air Nomad quality. Aang had agreed. They both got a rock to the shin for that, as well as a stern, “Don’t compare me to Twinkle Toes and his girly methods!”

But, sucky as it was, Toph had to admit, Zuko had a point. She tried to break out of the habit, tried to be grounded like her ancestors were, like her people had a tendency to be. Yet she has always been the type to crave adventure, to crave something new.

Still. She’s stubborn. That _is_ an Earth Native trait. So the letter sits, unanswered on her dining room table. It’s the end of the week before it’s noticed again. This time instead of the slender, white hands of her apprentice, it is touched by working hands. They are calloused, rough, scarred. And dark. She doesn’t know what dark looks like, but she does know that he’s it.

His visit comes as a surprise; yet it’s _change,_ so she welcomes him openly. Sokka’s footsteps are a little more tired than they were during his last encounter with his best friend, and from what she can tell, he’s taller. He’s lost some weight. But that’s the extent of the differences. At least, from what she can _sense._

Yet she knows it is him before he’s even knocked on the door. She acts on impulse; she can’t help it. When it comes to Sokka, Toph has always been hard pressed to control her actions. She sprints through her house, narrowly avoiding running into people or knocking things over. “Sifu Toph!” One of them cries out, dancing around her as she teeters plates in her hands. Toph bends a seat behind her, catching the girl just as she falls.

“Watch where you’re going!” Toph calls over her shoulder, but it’s well natured. The girl only rolls her eyes (something Toph can’t see, but wouldn’t be surprised to hear). Screeching to a halt at the door, Toph throws it open most unceremoniously, revealing Sokka standing there, hand poised to knock on her door. “Sokka!” She grins at him, “what are you doing here?”

He blinks twice, then drops his hand. If Katara or Aang were here, they might have exchanged a hug, but with just them, they simply stare at each other instead, grinning from ear to ear. It’s strange, two best friends who don’t touch each other like that unless other people are around. She wonders what Katara would think. “How’d you know I was here?”

“I would recognize your clumsy ass footsteps anywhere.”

“It’s good to hear you’re obsessed with me, even after all these years.” He teases her, expecting full-well to get punched in the arm. She doesn’t disappoint. Allowing him inside, she falls silent, waiting for Sokka to answer her.

He stretches as they breeze past servants, heading for her dining room, where lunch is soon to be served. Today is a resting day, hence why she’s not working her students to a pulp. Whether Sokka knew this, or it had just been luck, is something Toph is unsure of. “Do you know of a village named Makapu?”

There’s a faraway ringing of familiarization in the back of Toph’s mind, but nothing comes to the forefront. “Nah. Why?”

Sokka’s eyebrows curl together. “That’s weird. You should have gotten a letter. No wonder you missed your train.”

Toph settles down at the table. “Huh?”

“We waited for you this whole week and you never showed, so I grabbed Appa and dipped to get you.”

Now Toph is thoroughly confused. “What the fuck are you talking about? Who’s we? And I never sensed Appa.”

Sokka rolls his eyes. “That’s because there was no room for him to land in this crowded almost-city of yours. He’s on the outskirts, with Zuko.”

_“Sparky?!”_

“Spirits, I can’t believe you didn’t get that letter.” Sokka sits down next to her and pinches his nose. Peering at her messy table, he begins to idly sort through her mail until he sees a letter in familiar wording. “What the fuck,” Sokka says, tone accusatory, “you lied to me! You _did_ get it! You even _opened it!”_

“Hell no I didn’t,” Toph denies. “I would’ve remembered a letter with your names in it.”

“Madame Bei Fong,” Sokka reads, “The people of Makapu Village hereby formally invite you to...” he trails off. “These dumbasses. They didn’t mention us, or the train already booked for you.”

“Sokka.”

“What?”

“What the hell are you talking about.”

“Katara, Aang, Zuko, and I were on our way to get you so we could go to Ba Sing Sei.”

“As planned.”

“Yeah.” Sokka nods, “anyways. We stopped in Makapu, a place where Katara and Aang and I had stopped a long time ago, before you and Zuko. We – er, well, _Aang_ – saved the place from a volcanic eruption. Since we were there, we figured we might as well fortify their protection, and we called on you for help. But you never answered, so Zuko and I came to get you.”

“I see.” Toph tilts her head, considering. Leaving now would leave no one in charge of her students; it would break her out of her routine. Already, with the upcoming trip to Ba Sing Sei, she’d prepared meticulously. The sudden change would overthrow all her old preparations.

Next to her, Toph can sense Sokka staring at her. His breathing is even; he’s leaning towards her, expectant. She wonders, not for the first time, what her best friend looks like.

To be steady, or to veer off course.

To veer off course, or to be steady.

“Hey,” Sokka’s voice is soft. “Come with me. I’ve missed you.”

Fuck.

She swallows, hiding her face from him.

Distantly, Toph supposes that even the earth moves unsteadily at times; after all, isn’t that how earthquakes are caused?

“Let me get my stuff,” she grumbles, and the whoop of happiness Sokka lets out makes it all worth it.

* * *

Zuko greets them with a, “what took you so long?” to which Toph only rolls her eyes at, before pulling him into a loose side hug. He wraps his arm around her in return, giving her one quick squeeze before releasing. “How are you?” He asks. His voice sounds the same, albeit less strained than the last time they saw each other. Out of everyone in the gang, it is Toph and Zuko, along with Suki, that miss each other most often; they are all anchored down by their duties, whereas the others are free to come and go as they please. A visit between Toph and Zuko is rare; even rarer, between Suki and Toph.

Sokka watches the exchange oddly. Toph was the first person to accept Zuko, yet the last one to get close to him. As Toph has gotten older, he’d sometimes thought to himself how, if he didn’t know any better, he might think them related.

Although, nothing would ever beat her and Aang’s relationship. It, at times, rivals his and Katara’s.

Toph gives Appa a pat, “hey, big guy. I think out of everyone, I trust you the most.” Appa blinks at her. Then he lets out what Sokka thinks is a laugh, before nuzzling the blind woman. “Okay, okay, don’t get all mushy on me now.”

Clambering up onto his saddle using her earthbending, Toph disappears over the edge. Zuko clears his throat. “Draw a painting,” he comments dryly, “it’ll last longer.”

“Shut the fuck up, I wasn’t staring.” Sokka barks, “you’re starting to sound like Aang.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Sokka seethes, “imagining things that didn’t happen.”

“I’ll let him know you said that.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I-”

“Please?”  
  
Zuko squints. “Alright.” And with that, he clambers up to Appa’s reigns, Sokka close behind him. In the saddle, Toph is already laid out with a blanket covering her entire body. Only her hand is outside the sheets, ready for Sokka to grip. He does what he’s used to doing when it comes to their trips on the flying bison. Sitting down her to her, Sokka pulls her close and grabs her free hand, ready to steady her in case she gets woozy, or catch her if she loses balance or begins to fly away. “Ready?” Zuko calls. He’s never been one for projecting his voice, so it sounds tinny, like the wind is catching it before it can fully express itself.

Still, Sokka hears. His voice rumbles from deep in his belly. “Always!”

Appa barely waits for Zuko’s instruction. With a whip of his tail, Appa is off, pushing himself into the sky until they’ve disappeared above the clouds and all Sokka can hear is the wind, and all he can feel is Toph’s hand in his as she pins the covers over her face to keep her ears safe.

* * *

Appa lands gracefully. Toph always thought this kind of strange, how a creature as imposing as he could move with such calculated grace. It’s commendable; she’s told him this before. He had snorted at her.

It is sunset when they arrive in the village of Makapu. Aang and Katara, along with the rest of the village, had wandered outside upon seeing them approach. Toph can’t see them, but she knows they are there even before Appa has landed. She knows that the Kyoshi Warriors are probably there, too. Zuko wouldn’t travel internationally alone. It feels like a reunion, yet the destination is, at least to her, new. She’s never been to Makapu. Never even heard of it. She must’ve dozed off when they’d graced over it in geography class growing up.

Toph bends the earth to her will, meeting her as she hops off Appa and onto it. Sokka follows suit, and Zuko clambers down from Appa’s reigns gracefully.

“Toph!” Katara’s voice rings clear, like spring water. “It’s good to see you!”

“It’s good to be seen,” Toph responds dryly, accepting her friend’s hug. Aang nudges her shoulder; Toph punches him back. “Twinkletoes,” she says, “you got heavier.”

“Yeah, well, you -”

“- tread carefully -”

“- look great?” He finishes it like a question. Toph laughs; if only the world knew that their Avatar was, in reality, a clown.

“Where are the painted ladies?” Toph asks. Sokka had tried, once, to explain the makeup that Kyoshi’s warriors wear. He didn’t get too far, but Toph got the gist. She tries to imagine her face covered under layers of makeup, making her unrecognizable, and shudders. How stifling. It reminds her of her childhood, and so she casts it away without a second thought.

“Toph!” Ty Lee’s voice has always seem to carry three times the excitability of most people’s tones. She springs towards her; unmoving, Toph waits. Distantly, she recalls how, as a child, Toph had always thought her movements and Aang’s eerily familiar. She had asked Zuko what Ty Lee looked like, once, and right after, asked for Aang’s description. When he was done, Zuko had, with genuine surprise, commented on how similar they looked. Maybe one day Toph would dig further into it, but not now. Ty Lee smothers her in a hug. “You look so pretty!”

“You too.”

“Aw, thank you!” Ty Lee chirps. “Suki, Mai, it’s Toph!”

It is Mai that surprises Toph. Sure enough, standing still at Toph’s far right, is the Fire Noblewoman. What she’s doing here, Toph doesn’t know. She doesn’t care, either, but still. “What’s up, ladies?”

“Hey, Toph!” Suki cries, tearing herself away from a discussion between her, Aang, and Zuko. “It’s good to have you here!”

Mai says nothing; through her feet, Toph sees her nod. So she nods back. “So,” Toph suddenly feels lost, “what am I doing here? Why didn’t you all just go to Ba Sing Sei?”

Sokka groans, “Toph, I told you why.”

“Yeah, but you said Twinkle Toes fixed it.” She feels stupid, like she’s missing something. Toph has always disliked being out of the loop. “So, like… what the fuck?”

Aang makes a whining sound, but doesn’t comment on her choice of words. “I did fix it, for the time being. But you know better than anyone that even the earth can change. I want to give them a more suitable solution, so I don’t have to worry about the village burning down every year.”

There’s a shuffling; through Seismic Sense, Toph can feel one of the merchants who had been packing up her cart, turn towards the Avatar. “It’s an honor for you to worry so deeply about us, Avatar.”

“Oh,” Aang begins, “it’s no-”

“-but you need not worry. We have Aunt Wu!”

There’s a slapping sound. “Did you just hit your forehead?” Toph asks Sokka.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because people are _idiots.”_

“Ah.” Toph tilts her head, “noted.”

To his credit, Aang’s heartbeat remains steady. “Of course! I love Aunt Wu. But I think even Aunt Wu would agree that precautions never harmed anyone. Speaking of her, where is she?”

Katara’s weight shifts. Mumbling, she says, “I’m surprised she’s still alive.”

Toph can feel her interest piquing. “Sparky, who’s Aunt Wu?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Zuko quips, “what do I look like to you, a know-it-all?”

“I mean,” Toph grunts, “shouldn’t the Firelord know it all?”

Sokka snickers, then quiets down immediately. Toph wonders what type of look Zuko must have given him.

“Avatar and friends!” The voice that meets Toph’s ears is old and melodic. “Long time no see… I see some new faces as well! How lovely!”

The group turns, so Toph follows their lead. Had she been alone, she wouldn’t have seen the point, but she knows Sokka would just turn her if she didn’t, so she saves him the trouble. “Aunt Wu!” Aang greets, “it is a privilege to meet again.”

“On behalf of the village,” Aunt Wu bows to them, “I would like to say thank you for what you have done for the world.”

“It was nothing,” Aang laughs.

“Don’t lie,” Toph interrupts. “It was hard. Thank you for the respect, lady.”

Aunt Wu doesn’t speak for a few moments. “You’re a Bei Fong.”

Toph blinks, before regathering her wits. “What gave it away, the flying boar on my clothes?”

“Besides the fact that you are a global hero, yes.”

A slow laugh falls from Toph’s lips, “I like you, lady. What are you, a comedian? Is that why the town trusts you so much?”

“No,” Aunt Wu chortles, “I am a fortune teller.”

Sokka bumps shoulders with Toph, “ridiculous, right?”

To his surprise, Toph shakes her head, “no, actually. That’s pretty cool.” Louder, so that everyone can hear, Toph says, “I’m hungry. Where are we eating and sleeping tonight?”

Aunt Wu doesn’t miss a beat. “Right this way,” she says, and so Toph follows, the rest of the gang trailing behind her.

* * *

They’re sitting around in a group, lounging after dinner, when Toph gets up from her conversation with Zuko and goes to sit by Mai. “Hey,” Toph says, “what are you doing here?”

Contrary to popular belief, Toph is a social person. She can read people better than anyone else on earth, and she knows what to say to get her way; she just doesn’t believe in constantly using that power. It wouldn’t be fair, to use her ability to coerce and manipulate people all the time. So she picks and she chooses. Mai is easier than she’d like to believe; she appreciates people who are straight up with her. Toph is exactly that.

“I don’t know.” Mai’s voice is passive.

“Oh?”

She shrugs; Toph can’t see it. “I don’t know a lot of things anymore.”

“You and Zuko still together?”  
  
“You know we’re not.”

“Do you still love him?”

Mai shifts. “I want to. But I don’t.”

“Why do you want to?”  
  
“It would be easier.”

“Why?”

Mai doesn’t answer. Across the room, Ty Lee laughs loudly at something Sokka has said. Mai’s heart speeds up almost imperceptibly. All at once, Toph understands.

There’s a lot of things Toph knows about a lot of people. She knows that Suki and Sokka broke up shortly after Mai and Zuko broke up for the second time. The reasons behind each split was different; for Suki and Sokka, it was a shift from romantic love to one of partnership. It wasn’t a relationship anymore; it was seeing each other once in a blue moon and not really keeping track of the other until they ran into each other again. Calling it off and shifting to friends with benefits, and then slowly to just friends, was easy. At least, that’s what Suki and Sokka had both told her, at different times.

They hadn’t been lying, so Toph had no trouble believing them.

For Mai and Zuko, it had been the clashing of different love languages. They weren’t compatible or understanding towards each other; they crashed and they burned. At least, that’s what Zuko had told Toph. He hadn’t been lying either.

Toph knows that Suki and Zuko like each other; it’s in the way Zuko stands around her, and how Suki breathes around him. They would be a good couple. Better than most. She probably knows that they’ll get together before they know it; the body betrays more than people think it does, and to Toph, the body betrays almost all. It’s how she knew that Katara was pregnant one visit, and not pregnant the next; it’s how she knew to be there for one of her best friends.

So it is how she knows why Mai doesn’t answer, and why she’d rather love Zuko and not be loved back, than love someone who might have a chance with her but be risking her life if she does.

“Hey, Knives Out,” Toph says, so softly that Mai has to turn her head to hear better, “times are changing. Fast. And, on top of being one of the best knive throwers I’ve ever met, you’re friends with the best body guards in the universe.” She blinks, “I’m not gonna say it’s easy, but I am gonna say that should you choose to try, you have a safe place here. You both do.” Ty Lee’s tinkling laugh rings out again; she’s such a joyful person. The ying to Mai’s yang. “All we have in life is the time we’re given to us.”

Mai’s body remains almost the same, except for the slight emotion in how she balls her hands up into fists around her robes. “I didn’t know you were so sappy, Toph.”

“I’m not. I’m just honest.”

“Thank you.”

“I hope you tell her, since that’s probably why she invited you on this trip and why you’re here in the first place.” With that, Toph gets up. “Oh, and you should get your fortune told. I heard Wu does them for free.”

* * *

The next morning, Toph rises with the sun. Aang is already up; he’s meditating out in Aunt Wu’s ridiculously large garden. Zuko falls into step with Toph; once they reach the garden, Zuko branches off to go meditate with the Avatar. Suki and Ty Lee are already stretching, to go over their forms. Katara is practicing her most advanced waterbending forms; Sokka and Mai are inside, going over the stretches for their own katas, which happen to be very similar. Toph herself only arose out of habit… but then, she suspects that’s why everyone except for the Avatar and Firelord are up, too. Years of rising early had ruined their biological clocks.

Deciding that Earthbending would cause too much ruckus at such an early hour, Toph takes a seat on the porch, watching her friends. Katara doesn’t really need to practice; her forms are flawless. None of them do, but they also know better than to become complacent. “You are the only one who has not gotten her fortune told.” Aunt Wu takes a seat next to the Earthbender. She hands her tea, which Toph accepts. “Do you not believe in it?”

“The opposite, actually.”

“Then why do you not want to hear word of your future?”

Toph mulls over the answer, before responding in a quiet tone. “I spent many years of my life having my destiny shaped for me. I think that, now, I would rather believe I’m making my own, even if it means I’m just following some predestined plan that I don’t know about.”

“There is nothing wrong with knowing a little bit about your future.” Aunt Wu argues, “it does not mean you are not in control. This life is yours to live, young one. The future is fluid; I just tell of the moments that are more set in stone than others.”

Toph tilts her head. “Set in stone...” the meteorite on her arm loosens, then shifts forms as it moves from her arm to in between her hand. “Did my friend get his fortune told?”

She thinks she feels Aunt Wu smile. “The one with the sword?”

“How did you know?”

“I’m old, I always know.” Toph snorts. “But yes, he did. Many years ago, as well as very late last night.”

“What was it?”

“That is not my place to tell. But I am sure if you asked him, he would tell you.”“Why are you so sure?”

Aunt Wu doesn’t answer. Instead, she reaches out and takes Toph’s finish tea cup from her. Looking down at the leaves, Aunt Wu blinks. “You have greatness in your future, even more than the greatness that you have already encountered. Yet with the greatness comes many struggles, most of them emotional. I see motherhood in your future.”

Toph blinks. Out of all the things in life, a mother was never something she’d consider herself. “Is there a father?”

Aunt Wu’s brow furrows, something Toph can’t see. “Yes… but not in the most traditional sense… this is, I am afraid, self inflicted. You will settle down at an older age, with someone who...” Aunt Wu clears her throat, “… with your soulmate. With love like that, if they’re not your soulmate then I don’t know who-” Aunt Wu suddenly goes silent. All that can be heard is the birds waking up, and the swish of Katara’s water. Suki and Ty Lee’s forms are quiet. Sokka and Mai are taking a break from their studies. “Oh.”

“What?” Toph prods.

“-your time as a couple,” Aunt Wu sounds sad, “will be short lived. You will struggle for many years after that, before finally finding inner peace.”

“And then?”

Aunt Wu pauses. “I can’t see anything more after that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never seen this before,” Aunt Wu sets Toph’s tea cup down. “The trail doesn’t end… it just disappears.”

“What?”

“Hm.” Aunt Wu stands. “Thank you for such an interesting read, Ms. Bei Fong. I will see you at breakfast!”

“Wait, lady, what the fuck?”

But Aunt Wu keeps walking. If she wasn’t so old, Toph would’ve given her a piece of her mind. Instead, she just sits, watching the world around her through her feet. Wondering what the fuck that lady had just foretold.

* * *

Between the four benders and four nonbenders (plus Appa and Momo), as well as the entire town, they make quick work of making Makapu’s defenses against their volcanic neighbor, stronger. By their third day at the town, it’s done. It could have been done the day before, but Aang insisted on being painstakingly careful about everything.

Sokka is sitting outside when Zuko comes to sit next to him. He’s watching Aang and Toph spar. Toph had told Aang he could use all four elements, but Aang, so far, was sticking strictly to Air. Mai was refereeing the match; Ty Lee, Suki, and Katara had all gone out to get their nails done. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Sokka is caught off guard by the question. “I don’t know, I guess so.” He responds, holding a cigarette up to his mouth. If Katara caught him smoking, she’d kill him. But no one else would tell him anything; he knew Zuko smoked weed every once in a while and Aang’s people were literally the ones that invented it. While the substance was different, the principle was still the same. Toph was too busy sparring Aang to notice, and Aang was being preoccupied by said Earthbender. Mai never gave a shit. The smoking was, for him at least, a once in a while thing; only when he was stressed.

He’s been getting more and more stressed nowadays.

Zuko raises his brow at Sokka, but doesn’t comment as he lights the cigarette. “Why?”

Zuko shrugs. “I was talking to Toph about it. Did you know she’s way more spiritual than she lets on?”

“I have an inkling.” Sokka can’t help the smile that slips onto his face as he watches Toph. He remembers a couple days ago, when she’d admitted to believing in fortunetelling. “She’s just not very religious.”

“She and Aang think that she’s Avatar Roku’s Earthbending teacher, reincarnated. She says that Aang once told you all that some friendships are so strong, they can last lifetimes.” As Sokka watches Toph land a significant blow to Aang’s shins, he can’t help but believe it. “My great grandfather was friends with Aang’s airbender teacher.”

“Gyatso?”

“Yeah.” Aang uses firebending for the first time, to melt a sheet of metal that Toph had thrust at him. It’s the first element besides air that he’s used during their fight. “Do you…” Zuko trails off. Aang jumps in the air, finally giving up and using all four elements against Toph. He turns the ground underneath her to mush and then freezes it, but she simply breaks the ice with a quick jab of rock and turns the field into a wave of earth; Aang uses his airbending to keep his balance, before releasing a jet of fire towards her. “Do you think that in the next life, we will all be reunited?”

Toph buries herself underground. Afraid to land, Aang keeps himself levitated. The sparring ground is silent. Almost deafeningly so. Risking his win, Aang opts to touch down as lightly as possible. Sokka guesses it’s so he can use Seismic Sense to track down Toph.

It proves to be his undoing. As soon as his toe touches the earth, he sinks. Aang tries to soften the earth, but it’s steadfast underneath him. Soon he’s sucked underneath, disappearing. With a rumble, the ground flips over, revealing Toph holding Aang hostage as she points an army of earth daggers towards him. “Tap out.” Sokka hears her say.

“I can still win!” Aang tries to fight back. Toph zooms the daggers towards him, and for a split second he thinks he needs to intervene until: “Alright, alright! Greatest Earthbender and all that, you win!” Upon being released, Aang turns to Mai, “why didn’t you stop her?”

Mai shrugs. “It was fun and I was bored.”

Toph’s laugh is loud. “I can’t believe you’re fully realized and I _still_ beat you! Loser.”

“Shut up.” Aang flicks some wind towards Toph, and she shoves him.

“L-o-s-e-r...” Their banter trails off. Mai rolls her eyes and says something Sokka can’t hear.

Blinking, he turns back to Zuko, who’s also been watching the scene. “I hope so.” Sokka admits. “I really, really do.”

* * *

The flight to Ba Sing Sei is quiet. Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, and Suki take the Firelord’s caravan to Ba Sing Sei; the original quartet take Appa. Toph and Sokka sit side by side; Katara sits closest to Aang, so she can yell over the wind towards him occasionally. Momo is perched on Aang’s shoulder. Sokka thinks that Aang looks tired. He’s only twenty, yet time seems to be catching up to him. One of these days Sokka will have to look into what being locked in an iceberg and in the Avatar State does to the human body. Maybe he can find a way to help him.

Next to him, Toph is gripping Sokka’s arm. Her eyes are closed. Looking at her, Sokka can’t help thinking of what Aunt Wu told him on that late night.

He had asked her if the fortune she’d told him all those years ago was still true. She had recited it for him without him having to remind her, and it made his heart sink. _“_ _Your future is full of struggle, and anguish. Most of it self inflicted.”_

Yet Aunt Wu had pitied him. “I remember. Some people have strong auras; aspects of their future can be read a mile away. Yet this does not mean all you will experience is pain. Come here.” He had sat across from her. “You’ve grown as a person. You’re more open minded now.”

Sokka had sniffed, “I still believe in science above everything else. Fortunetelling is dubious, at best.” Upon seeing Aunt Wu’s facial expression, he’d flinched. “I apologize.”

Shaking her head, she had grabbed his palms. “Indeed, I see much pain in your life. More than the rest of your friends, even the Firelord. And almost all of it, is self inflicted. For this, I am sorry. Truly. But I also see something most people don’t find in one lifetime.” The old woman had smiled at him. “A soulmate. The battle is not easy, but it will be worth it. You will have a stellar career and change the lives of many. Your bloodline will live on; you will have children. And-” Aunt Wu halts. “I’m sorry. I should not reveal anymore.”  
  
“What?” Sokka’s heart had dropped. “Why? Aunt Wu, please. Tell me.”

When she looked at him, she had looked sad. “It is at your own risk.”

“Reveal it.”

“Your life line halts suddenly. It means death will come when you least expect it.”

He had blinked. “Thank you, Aunt Wu.”

He had left without a word, leaving the old woman staring after him.

Now, sitting next to Toph, he can’t help but wonder what life has in store for him. Her presence next to him is comforting; she has always been his constant. Even as his feelings towards her had grown, he’d known that regardless of what was felt, she would be there. Through fire and ice and storm, there was Toph.

Suddenly he has flashbacks to that warship. He knew then that Toph was special to him; as he holds her tighter to him, now, he realizes he just never knew how much.

The words Wu had whispered about a soulmate comes back to him. As Katara yells over the wind to her boyfriend, Sokka feels in his heart the steadiness that comes from knowing that she’s, somehow, in some way, right beside him.

* * *

Toph has sunglasses on. They’re a new invention; they reflect the surface that she’s looking at. Currently, Sokka can see his reflection in them. He looks ridiculous. His mouth is hung open a little bit, his hands are shoved hazardously in the pockets of his swimming trunks. He’d been mid-conversation with Suki when the earth had rumbled under their feet and Toph had shown up, Aang and Zuko in tow. The three of them come bearing food for the rest of the party, carried by Aang and Toph via Earthbent baskets. Katara was learning chi blocking with Ty Lee while Mai watched, a small smile on her face as she watched her girlfriend teach. Zuko’s family was in town with them, and were gathered around Mai, Tom Tom playing happily with Kiyi.

“Sokka?” His ex girlfriend was smirking at him. “Sokka, you’re staring.”

And he’s well aware that he’s staring but fuck, he can’t help it. Snapping his head back towards Suki, he does his best to cement the image of Toph into his brain. It’s not for any weird sexual reason. It’s more due to the fact he never sees her like this.

She’s just taken up being Police Chief for Republic City, meaning that they see each other a lot more often than they have since their endeavor in Makapu. But she’s always in uniform or in the Earth Kingdom garments. This is… it’s different. He wonders who dressed her. Draped around her shoulders is a loose golden cover up, and underneath is a maroon one piece. Her collarbone is exposed. A long braid leads down her back, and her hair is free of its usual headband. Her ears still have earrings in them, though; gold studs. The tattoo of a fierce badgermole that she sports on the upper left side of her back is visible as she turns towards Aang to say something. Sokka never sees her like this. It’s been years since he’s even seen her in an actual swimsuit.

“Shut up.” He tells Suki. If anyone else noticed him staring, they didn’t let on. Suki’s still laughing at him. “Suki, please. I was just caught off guard.”

“You weren’t caught off guard by anyone else.”

“I-” Sokka shuts his mouth. He’s been trying to get himself out of the habit of running his mouth when he’s nervous.

Suki, to her credit, takes pity on him. “It’s not a big deal, Sokka. Everyone already knows, anyway.”

“Yeah, I – _what?”_ Sokka’s voice betrays him, raising two octaves. He’s twenty-six; he should not be having these issues. “Knows what?”  
  
“That you two like each other.” Suki shrugs. Across the beach, Zuko is setting the food on a table that they’d brought out from his house on Ember Island. Toph is trying to help but it proves to be fruitless, so Zuko just sends her away. She leaves Aang and Sokka to do their things and wanders off towards Mai.

“We don’t like each other.” Even as Sokka says it he can sense the absurdity of his response. Even Aang had noticed they liked each other. Anyone could tell. “It doesn’t matter either way.”

“Why not?”

“She’s not ready.”

The Kyoshi Warrior tilts her head. “Did you ever think that maybe she’s not ready because she’s afraid of hurting you?”

“That’s stupid.”

Suki shrugs, following his gaze to where Toph has made a playhouse for the kids. “It is what it is.” She says, and walks off to help the Firelord.

Sokka watches Zuko beam at her; they are a whole other mess. Zuko recently asked Sokka if it was okay for him to date Suki. At first, Sokka had been surprised that Zuko even knew what Bro Code was, but as quickly as the surprise had washed over him, the even bigger surprise that Sokka didn’t really care washed over even stronger. As long as his bro was happy. As long as he treated Suki well. She’d said it herself, once: She might be a warrior, but she’s a girl, too.

Still, it didn’t look like they’d gone public. The glances were too muted. The touches were too quick.

“Hey, Captain Boomerang.” Toph wanders up to him. “Ready to eat?”

Sokka glances at her. Commits her to memory. His feelings are steady; the only time he’s ever been more sure of someone’s place in his life, was with Katara. “After you.”

“Ladies first.”

He doesn’t budge, “exactly. I insist.”

It was a risky move, but it proves rewarding: Toph’s cheeks go pink. Her lips form a small smile. He grins softly at her; it’s not like she can see it, so it’s fine. “Softy.” She says, punching his arm as she strolls by.

He thinks maybe not every moment of his life has to be self inflicted agony. If she blushes and smiles like that even once a year at him, it is enough.

* * *

“You’re the only one that never asked who the father was.” Toph is cradling her newborn in her arms. The baby is quiet. Sokka wants to pout; she’d just been screaming her head off ten minutes ago. “Why?”

Sokka’s sitting in the arm chair closest to her. His brother in law is slumped on the pullout bed across from them; for the Avatar, he sleeps pretty soundly. Katara is out in the hallway, doing paperwork for her clinic. Zuko is far away, running his country. Suki’s probably next to him, along with Izumi. Mai’s probably watching Ty Lee train the Kyoshi Warriors while running her daycare.

Even Zuko’s mother asked who the father was. Even Hakoda had asked. But Sokka had just helped her through everything, gentle and steady and strong and always a little stupid and a lot of funny. “You wouldn’t have answered me anyways.” He deflects.

“That’s a fucking lie.”

Sokka’s eyes go wide. _“Toph!”_ He admonishes, “don’t swear around _the baby!”_

“I swear around you all the time, why’s this the first time you’re saying something?”

Sokka’s eyes narrow at the rebuttle. Then, he grins wickedly. If she could see it, it would send shivers up her spine. “Toph, I know I’ve always been your baby, but I’m talking about the literal baby this time.”

Her cheeks go pink, and she mumbles something under her breath that Sokka doesn’t quite catch. He knows that if she hadn’t just pushed out a literal human then he’d already have paid dearly for the comment, but all she does now is blush and go back to tending to her daughter (who has yet to be named).

Toph forgets her question; it allows Sokka to breathe a sigh of relief. He knows the real answer would involve to real a conversation. If she’d told him who the father was, he’d have someone to openly hate and envy. He doesn’t know what he’d do to the man who ditched Toph. He doesn’t know what he’d do to the man who had the pleasure of experiencing Toph so intimately, before he did.

Her hair is disheveled and loose. She’s not wearing her usual earrings; in fact, she’s not wearing earrings at all. She’s a mess, but Sokka thinks she looks badass and beautiful as ever. Toph extends her arms to Sokka. She feels him take her daughter from her, hears him coo at her. Not for the first time, she wants to tell him. And she wants to ask what it was that Aunt Wu had told him.

But something holds her back. The only fear she’s ever known.

Instead, she falls asleep.

* * *

“Fuck, _fuck.”_

He hears her gasp. A wicked smirk settles on his features. He’s twenty-eight and he always thought that if something happened between them, it would probably be while they were both drunk. But they’re completely sober and it’s only five in the evening. Lin is off with Aang and his kids on some sort of historical field trip; Katara is working late at the clinic. It had just been the two of them. One moment they’d been eating an early dinner and the next, Toph had leaned too close and he’d leaned closer and they’d been kissing.

Sokka continues what he’d been doing to her, his body responding wonderfully to the noises she’s making, all because of him. “Sokka...”

She never says his name, not his real one. It makes his skin break out in goosebumps. Still, he can’t help being the funny guy. Even in times like this. “Aht aht,” he says, “that’s not my name.”

“Sokka, I-”

“-say it, Toph.” He stops what he’s doing. She glares in his general direction. “What do you usually call me?”

She mumbles it. Sokka clears his throat. A little louder, Toph grinds out, “Captain Boomerang. You absolute fucking dumbass. You’re not funny.”

But even as she says it, she’s laughing. Sokka continues with what he was doing and she’s right back to enjoying it. He could taste her forever, but suddenly Toph is sliding down and returning the favor. His hands go to stroke her pretty hair and all he can see is her. For a long time, he loses himself in that, eyes closed. Until the feeling is replaced by something much more intimate. Eyes opening, Sokka lets out a moan that Toph matches. _“Fuck,”_ he says. “Toph.” He pulls her down to him, kissing at her neck, her breasts, tracing her tattoo, touching everything. All he can smell, hear, taste, and feel (Spirits, the way she _feels)_ is them. It’s better than anything he could ever fathom.

He can only assume the sentiment is the same, because Toph moves in rhythm with him. His name is repeated from her lips. It sounds like smooth stone; steady and beautiful.

He cements the entire thing to memory. Thank the Spirits they were sober.

* * *

She wishes they hadn’t been sober.

At least with alcohol, they could’ve blamed it on something. But now, as Sokka sits next to her while Katara works, she can’t help her pounding heart. Toph thinks that Sokka is insane. His heart is steady, even as Katara delivers the news. All she can sense is the slight change to indicate he’s… what the fuck? _Happy?_

“Who’s the father?” Katara asks.

She can feel Sokka opening his mouth. Toph beats him to it. “It doesn’t matter. The kid’s mine.”

Katara sighs. “Okay. Well. Are you gonna keep it?” Next to her, Sokka shifts. “Sokka, are you okay?”

“I-”

“-I’m keeping it.” Toph says. Despite what she’s just told Katara, this kid is theirs.

“Whatever you need, I’m here.”

Sokka stiffens. “Me too.” He says. His heartbeat is a little quicker; he’s angry. But still, he isn’t lying.

* * *

Eventually, Sokka relents. Aunt Wu’s words ring in his head and he knows damn well he shouldn’t, but he does. They agree that dating isn’t in the cards for Toph; and anything other than marriage, isn’t in the cards for him. But a daughter is. So his direct hand in making Su isn’t revealed, but his hand in raising her is.

Su is three when Lin calls Sokka “Dad” for the first time. Su is five when Toph finally stops correcting the both of them.

Toph knows it hurts, but she also knows this is the best outcome.

Every once in a while that old lady’s words will come back to haunt her. Toph hopes she’s making the right decisions.

* * *

When Toph kicks Su out, Sokka says nothing for two days.

On the third day, Lin drags him to her mother’s apartment. “When I think of my father,” she says, speaking slowly, “all I can picture is you.”

Sokka blinks at her. He says nothing.

“I know you’re not my biological dad. But I do know you’re Su’s.” Lin watches Sokka start in surprise, before barreling forwards. “I mean, how could I not? I want to be a detective and I grew up watching all of you. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you first. I’m sorry Mom didn’t take you into consideration. But please, talk to her. If anyone can convince her that it’s time to tell Su, it’s you.”

To her surprise, Lin watches him cry. It’s the second time he’s ever cried in front of her, and for some reason, it hurts. “She won’t budge.” He says. “Not yet.”

“I think you’re wrong.”

“I don’t think I am.” Sokka says. “And even if I am, it’s too late. Su’s gone, Lin. No one except herself can bring her back. Not me, not you, not even your mother.”

“Then go make up with her. Please.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t. Not this time. Just this once, Toph has to come to me.” He blinks at his daughter. “I’m tired, Linny. Of suffering when I don’t need to.”  
  
She feels like the floor is falling from under her. This is all her fault-

“-this isn’t your fault.” Sokka reassures, right on cue. “This is ours.” Turning towards the door, he says, “when you’re ready, I’m here, Toph. I love you.”

He gives Lin a hug and walks away. When he’s gone, Lin turns towards her mother’s door to find Toph standing just on the other side of it. She’s not crying, but Lin thinks it would’ve been less painful to witness if she had been.

* * *

Su goes to Sokka first. “Are you my father?”

He’s in the Southern Water Tribe as interim Head Chief, while someone else is found to try and replace Hakoda. Sokka’s head jerks up. “Suyin?”

She’s ten years older. His daughter looks exhausted, but also happy. And she’s alive. She is safe. “Suyin.” Sokka gathers her up in his arms. “You never wrote me.”

“Answer my question.”

He blinks. “That’s not my question to answer. Go ask your mother.”

Suyin huffs. “I don’t want to see her. I have something to tell my father.”

Spirits, the kid came out even more stubborn than both her parents combined.

“I want to tell my dad thank you.” Su’s head is raised high, “for being there for all three of us. And that I hope he’ll be there for his grandkid, too.”

He drops his pen. “You’re pregnant?” Dumbly, he notices the wedding band on her finger. “You’re married?!”

Su shrugs. “I learned from you two it’s better to not waste time.”

And well, fuck. Sokka has no rebuttal to that.

* * *

Toph is fifty-two when she finally goes to see Sokka. She makes it to the Southern Water Tribe just in time for his sixtieth birthday. Except no one but her is there to celebrate; times have changed, and as she remembers telling Mai all those years ago, they changed fast.

It’s bitterly cold and she can’t see a thing, yet somehow she knows exactly the moment he spots her. “Toph?” His voice is booming. He sounds older. Stupidly, Toph remembers that’s because he _is_ older. “What are you doing here?”

She bites her lip. Humility is a thing she grasped too late in life. Now, as he pulls her close to him, she realizes how steep a price she’s paid. “I came to apologize.”

Sokka says nothing.

“I’m a dumbass.”

“So am I.”

“I fucked up.”

“So did I.”

“Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to apologize.” Toph wrinkles her nose at him. “I – fuck – I always knew I was yours but I was so afraid of fucking shit up and look at us now.”

“Toph.”

“Stop, Sokka, I-”

His kiss is gentle. It is all Toph needs to realize he doesn’t need some long, romantic apology. Sokka isn’t the same person he was forty-five years ago. Fuck. Neither is she. But they’re not too far off; and they grew together. That’s more than most people can say. She kisses him back. In his arms, she doesn’t feel so cold anymore.

* * *

They get married quietly. They’re three grandchildren in when Toph finally remembers to ask. “What did that old lady tell you? When you asked for your fortune?”

“Old lady...” Sokka racks his memory. “Oh! Aunt Wu?”

“Yeah, sure.”

They’re sitting in Su’s guest bedroom. Opal is asleep in Toph’s arms. Quietly, Sokka relays the fortune from decades ago. “Looking back, I guess she was kinda spot on.” Glancing at his wife, he asks, “what about you?”

Reluctantly, Toph tells him of her fortune. Slowly, her husband’s smile fades. The realization of how big of a dumbass they both were seems to hit him. “So you’re saying if we’d told each other this stuff earlier, we could’ve avoided half this stupidity?”

“I guess so.”

“Wonderful.” Sokka groans. “I guess it really is a dubious form of science. The universe just _loves_ proving me wrong, doesn’t it?”

Toph shrugs. “You make it too easy.”

He looks at her. He laughs.

As she leans forward to kiss him, Opal tucked tightly in her arms, Toph laughs back.

* * *

“So you’ve always believed in that stuff?” Some things never change: Sokka is seventy but still devouring a piece of lamb-tiger like his life depends on it. “Fortune telling, reincarnation, all that jazz?”

Toph shrugs, eating just as messily. “I guess so. I never really stopped to think about it til I met Aang. But then, look at all the shit we saw with him. I had no reason to believe it wasn’t real. Fortune telling, love, reincarnation, all that bullshit.”

“Love?”

“Yeah.” Toph says. “It’s definitely real.”

He grins at her. “Oh yeah? How do you reckon that?”

She rolls her sightless eyes. Her gray hair hangs in her face. Sokka thinks she looks beautiful. “Shut the fuck up. You know it’s because of Zuko, dumbass.”

“I love you t- wait, Zuko?!”

She sticks her tongue out at him, before kissing him. She’s soft around him; he finds it a privilege to be the only one to receive such treatment. “You’re dumb as fuck.”

Sokka strokes his goatee. “Hm. Fortune telling, love, reincarnation, and other somewhat dubious forms of science. Guess that doesn’t mean they’re not sciences.”

Toph just takes another bite out of her meal.

* * *

When she disappears into the swamp, she tells no one.

Days turn to months and months turn to years, and soon Toph doesn’t even know how long its been. All she knows is that peace seems far away. Every moment, awake or asleep, is spent yearning for him. Fifty years knowing him and only thirteen years actually spent together. Toph had never stopped to think about death, but now she wishes she’d prayed more fervently for them to die at the same time.

When the new Avatar finds her, she remembers Aang’s words about friendship and can’t help thinking, “Ah, shit. Here we go again.”

But she goes, because it’s what her husband would want. And she’s no bitch.

When everything is said and done, though. Toph comes back. There’s a newer lightness to her, a stronger sense of peace. In the swamp she feels the very turn of the earth. Sometimes she can smell him; other times she can feel him. Days turn to months and months turn to years, and soon Toph doesn’t know how long its been. But she feels calmer. She feels more… at peace, with herself.

Toph thinks back to all those years ago, decades ago, when she’d still ran her little school. She remembers how bored she’d been. How restless. How uncomfortable she’d been at the notion of having such an un-Earthbender like quality within her. Now, too many years later, Toph finds peace in the fact that her restlessness back then had been more than appeased. The years between then and now were filled with so much angst and change that Toph didn’t know how to handle it in the beginning. But now, she meditates, calm and grounded.

On one particular day, Toph thinks his smell is stronger than usual. It is particularly cool in the swamp today. She can almost touch him. And then she sees it. A light. She’s never seen light before.

She hears him before she sees him: “Hey.” He says. Sokka sounds younger than the last time she’d heard him. He sounds like he’d sounded all those years ago, when he’d come to take her to Makapu. Toph squints. The hand that reaches out to her is dark. She’s only ever seen the outline of a body. In all her years, Toph never imagined she’d be seeing it in person.

His eyes are bright. Surely, she’s dreaming. But even in her dreams, she’s never been able to see. “Come with me,” her husband says. The ring on his finger is shining. “I’ve missed you.”

She hesitates for only a second. Distantly, Toph remembers the same thought she’d had all those decades ago, when he’d told her the same words: She supposes that even the earth moves unsteadily at times; after all, isn’t that how earthquakes are caused?

For the first time in her life, she sees what his smile looks like. It sends happy shivers down her spine.

His hand is warm.

* * *

(Later on, the Swampbenders will tell the Avatar that the old lady had just disappeared. Korra searches high and low, in tune with the earth, but no trace of the first metalbender is anywhere to be found. It’s like her life didn’t end. The line to trace her just… disappeared. Korra doesn’t know what to make of it, but many years later she encounters a woman who seems impossibly old that claims to have foretold the metalbender’s future. Something about her life line suddenly vanishing. The Avatar doesn’t believe her, but the lady seems so sure, that she doesn’t bother arguing.)

* * *

_"But this is the most powerful thing that can be done: surrender.  
_ _See. And love is an act of surrender to another person.  
_ _Total abandonment."_  
 **-alan watts, _falling into love._**

**Author's Note:**

> hope you all found this worth your time! thanks for giving it a read. go follow my tumblr @avatraang to interact with me. i'd love to hear your thoughts, either here in the comments or over on my blog. thank you all again. i have a lot more ideas in the works, so until next time (which is hopefully soon!) i hope you are kept safe.


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